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IN RELATION TO 


IKBIAX eiYllilZaTlOK . 


BY THE DOMESTIC SECRETARY OF THE UNITED FOREIGN 

MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 




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NEW-YORK: 


PRINTED BY DANIEL FANSHAW, 


No. 20 SIote-Lane, 


1822. 




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LETTER 


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he. 


Respected and Dear Sir, 

Having understood, by a letter from Washing- 
ton, that the impression has been uttered on the floor 
of Congress, that “ Indian Civilization forms no part 
of the objects of Missionary Institutions,” and that 
“ the establishments at Brainerd and Elliot are a 
miserable farce,” I would respectfully invite your at- 
tention, for a moment, to the following facts and re- 
marks. 

The objects of the United Foreign Missionary So- 
ciety, are to civilize and christianize the American 
Indians ; and the Managers are convinced, from their 
own experience, as well as that of kindred Institu- 
tions, that each of these objects can be more easily 
and successfully attained, when combined, than when 
separately attempted. The history of eighteen centu- 
ries testifies, that no pagan nation ever became civi- 
lized to any important degree, until it had renounced 
its idols, and abandoned the whole train of supersti- 
tious rites connected with its idolatrous worship ; and 
that no one ever became evangelized without acquir- 
ing, in some measure, the arts and habits of civilized 
life. Whether the object, therefore, be to civilize or 
christianize, both must be carried on with an equal 




4 


and united effort. Under the impression of these 
truths, the Board, in forming their General Principles, 
or System of Operations, combined the two objects, 
as you will evidently perceive, by a perusal of the fol- 
lowing sections : 

“ First. At all the Missionary Stations under the 
'^care of this Board, it shall be the object to promote, 
not only the knowledge of Christianity, but also the 
arts of civilized life. Besides the branches of learn- 
ing taught in common schools, the boys shall be in- 
structed in agriculture and the mechanic arts; and the 
girls in spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, and house- 
hold business. 

“ Second. In every establishment, it is expedientthat 
there be a Superintendent and an Assistant, who shall 
be Ministers of the Gospel ; a Schoolmaster, a Far- 
mer, a Blacksmith, a Carpenter, and such other me- 
chanics as shall be found necessary, all of whom shall 
come under the general denomination of Missionaries. 
The number shall be increased as occasion shall re- 
quire. At every station there shall be either a Phy- 
sician, or a person acquainted with the practice of 
physic.” 

There are eight other sections, all of which are con- 
formable to the two I have quoted. 

The substance of these General Principles was com- 
municated to the public in the third Annual Report. 
In the same Report, it was stated, that in the Mission 
family which had just gone to the Osages of the Ar- 
kansaw, there were two Clergymen, one Physician, 
tw'o Teachers, two Farmers, a Carpenter, and a Black- 
smith. 

The fourth Report, in relation to the family which 




went out last Spring to the Osages of the Missouri, 
states as follows : 

Besides the Superintendent and Assistant, there 
are among the males of the family, a Minister of the 
Gospel, who goes out as a Teacher, with the privilege 
of preaching whenever his health will permit, and the 
circumstances of tlje Mission require ; a regularly edu- 
cated Physician and Surgeon ; a person capable of 
manufacturing machinery, performing most kinds of 
blacksmith’s work, and teaching sacred music ; a Car- 
penter and Millwright, a Shoemaker, a Waggonmaker, 
and two Farmers. The females, collectively, are qua- 
lified to teach all the branches of industry pursued by 
that sex in this country ; most of them have had con- 
siderable experience in teaching common schools ; and 
two or three have taught in seminaries of a higlier 
order.” 

In speaking of the Mission at Tuscarora, the same 
report says : 

‘^The whole of the nation now residing at Tusca- 
rora, have taken a decided stand in favour of the Chris- 
tian Religion. They have, already, made considera- 
ble progress in acquiring the arts and habits of civi- 
lized life. Having, in a great measure, abandoned the 
chace as the means of subsistence ; they depend, for 
their support, principally upon the produce of their 
soil. They occupy comfortable dwellings ; and in 
passing through their village, you behold waggons, 
ploughs, and other implements of husbandry, arranged 
around their doors. Some of their vouth have made 

4 / 

considerable proficiericj in the eleinentarj branches of 
an English education. One of their young men, -hope- 
fully pious, and of promising talents, is stationed at 
a Seminary in this city ; and another, perhaps equally 


pious and promising, at the Foreign Mission School, in 
Connecticut. 

“ From our Missionary at this station, we learn that 
the Indians had recently manifested more than ordina- 
ry solicitude for the general improvement of their vil- 
lage and their nation. Among other efforts for this ob- 
ject, they are preparing to erect a new Council-House 
and Church, of lai’ger dimensions, and of more con- 
venient structure, than the one they now occupy. They 
have already furnished all the timber and boards re- 
quired for the building ; and they hope to finish it 
early in the ensuing summer. 

“ A school for the children of the tribe has been 
taught for several years by the Missionary and his wife. 
As an additional Teacher, the Board have lately ap- 
pointed Miss Elizabeth L. Brown, of Homer, in the 
county of Courtland. She will probably commence her 
labours in the course of the present month; and it wdll 
be her particular duty to instruct the young females of 
the nation in the arts of sewing, knitting, spinning and 
weaving.” 

In relation to the Seneca station, the same report 
remarks : 

“ The property of the Board in the Seneca village, 
consists of two dwelling houses and a school house, to- 
gether with the use, for an indefinite period, of the 
ground on which they are erected. It is in contem- 
plation to build an addition to the house now occupied 
by Mr. Young, for the purpose of accommodating the 
minister, and of embodying many of the Indian chil- 
dren in the Missionary family. It is also in contem- 
plation to erect a workshop within an enclosure, of suf- 
ficient extent for the deposit of boards and timber ; 
to furnish the necessary tools ; and to give to the na->- 


tion free access to the establishment, for the object 
of making and repairing their farniing utensils and 
household furniture.” 

I might easily multiply these extracts; but enough 
have been given to show in the first place, that “ Indian 
Civilization^'^ constitutes a leading object of this Socie- 
ty, and one, of which the Managers can never lose 
sight ; and in the second place, that this subject forms 
a prominent topic in our Annual Reports. When the 
last Report was written, it was not officially known to 
the Board that the Mission 'sent out to the Osages of 
the Arkansaw had arrived at their destined station; 
and the numerous family, bound to the Osages of the 
Missouri, had not yet embarked at Pittsburgh. Of 
course, no account could have been given of the pro- 
gress of civilization among those tribes. But the Mis- 
sions among the Tuscarora and Seneca tribes, are of 
longer standing ; and to strangers and others who have 
visited them, it is a matter of surprise, that they should 
have made such rapid progress in laying aside their 
savage customs, and acquiring the habits, arts, and 
industry of civilized life. During the last summer, 
they were visited by two very respectable Gentlemen 
la Physician and a Merchant) and several l^adies from 
Charleston, S. C. who were highly gratified with the 
good order of the schools, the proficiency of the scho- 
lars, and the general state of civilization and improve- 
ment among the Indians. They left behind them, for 
the benefit of the Mission, a handsome donation, as a 
testimonial of the gratification they had received ; and 
took with them to Charleston a number of elegant 
specimens of penmanship from the hands of the Indian 
youth. While passing through this city, one of the 
Gentlemen called on me as the official organ of our 




society, and expressed the lively sense which he and 
his whole party entertained of the usefulness of our 
operations among those tribes. 

At Tuscarora there is a regularly organized Church, 
which contains tiventy-three Indian communicants, 
whose life and conversation correspond with their reli- 
gious profession. Our Missionary in speaking of this 
tribe, says — “ On some accounts, this poor people are 
superior to any village of white inhabitants, with 
which I am acquainted. The sabbath is almost uni- 
versally regarded and honoured among them. There 
is not a village in the State, where so large a propor- 
tion of the heads of families punctually attend the 
preaching of the Gospel.” — Again — “There appears 
to be among these Indians an increasing sense of the 
importance of education and industry. A large pro- 
portion of the families are industrious. During the 
past winter, the children have been punctual in their 
attendance at school, and have made very encourag- 
ing progress.” 

Tlievisit to Brainerd and Elliot, by a member of Con- 
gress, las stated in the letter which has called forth these 
remarks,) was probably made in the infancy of that 
Establishment. The uniform testimony, given by the 
Missionaries, and by gentlemen wdio have occasion- 
ally visited those Stations, is of a very different cha- 
racter. They concur in representing those nations as 
making great and rapid improvement in civilization. 
An extract or two from the documents which first 
come to hand, will sufficiently support this remark. 
The journal of the Mission at Brainerd, under date of 
the 1st of November, 1820, presents the following 
pleasing intelligence : 

The Council fof Indian Chiefs) have made a law' 


to compel parents to keep their children at school, 
when once entered, until they have finished their edu- 
cation, or to pay all expense for clothing, board, and 
tuition. They have also given the Superintendents of 
each Mission authority' to take out of their schools 

ft/ 

such children as they shall think proper, and, with the 
consent of their parents, pul them to such trades as 
are attached to their Missions ; and, when such chil- 
dren have learned a trade, they are to be furnished 
yvith a set of tools at the expense of the nation. 

“ They have also divided their country into eight 
districts or counties ; laid a tax on the people to build 
a Court House in each of these counties, and appoint- 
ed four Circuit Judges. The Cherokees are rapidly 
adopting the laws and manners of the whites. They 
appear to advance in civilization, just in proportion 
to their knowledge of the Gospel. It, therefore, be- 
comes all, who desire the civilization of the Indians, 
to do what they can to send the Gospel among them.” 
In the Spring of 1820, Adam Hodgson, Esq. a dis- 
tinguished merchant of Liverpool, visited Elliot and 
Brainerd, on a journey from Natchez on the Mis- 
sissippi, to Richmond in Virginia. An account of his 
journey, I find in a London publication now before 
me, from which, I beg leave to present a fetv passages, 
that you may learn the opinion of an intelligent fo- 
reign traveller, upon the subject now in question. Af- 
ter mentioning his arrival at Elliot, he adds — 

“ Soon after my arrival, we proceeded to the school, 
just as a half breed, who has taken great interest in it, 
was preparing to give the children ‘ a Talk,’ previous 
to returning home, 60 miles distant. He is a very in- 
fluential Chief, and a man of comprehensive views. 
He first translated into Choctatv, a letter to the chil- 


10 


V. 


dren, from some benevolent friends in the North, who 
had sent it with a present of a box of clothes. He 
then gave them a long address in Choctaw. 

“ As soon as the school was over, the boys repaired 
to their agricultural labours; their instructor working 
with them, and communicating information in the 
most affectionate manner : the girls proceeded to their 
sewing and domestic employments, under the Mission- 
ary sisters. They were afterwards at liberty, till the 
supper-bell rang, when we all sat down together to 
bread and milk, and various preparations of Indian 
corn ; the Missionaries presiding at the different tables, 
and confining themselves, as is their custom except in 
case of sickness, to precisely the same food as the 
scholars. After supper, a chapter in the Bible was 
read, with Scott’s Practical Observations. This was 
followed by singing and prayer; and, then, all retired 
to their little rooms, in their log cabins. 

“ In the morning, at day-light, the boys were at 
their agriculture, and the girls at their domestic em- 
ployments. About 7 o’clock w^e assembled for read- 
ing, singing, and prayer ; and soon afterward for 
breakfast. After an interval for play, the school open- 
ed with prayer and singing, a chapter in the Bible, 
and examination on the subject of the chapter of the 
preceding day. The children then proceeded to read- 
ing, writing, accounts, and English Grammar, on a 
' modification of the British system. The Instructors 
say they never knew white children learn with so 
much facility ; and the specimens of writing exhibited 
unequivocal proofs of rapid progress. Many spoke 
English very well. 

“The immediate object of the settlement of Elliot, 
is, the religious instruction of the Indians. The Mis- 


11 


sionaries are, however, aware that this must necessa- 
rily be preceded or accompanied by their civilization ; 
and that mere preaching to the adult Indians, though 
partially beneficial to the present generation, would 
not probably be attended with any general, or perma- 
nent residts. While, theret’ore, the religious interests 
of the children are the objects nearest to their hearts, 
they are anxious to put them in possession of those 
qualifications which may secure to them an important 
influence in the councils of their nation, and enable 
them gradually to induce their roaming brethren to 
abandon their erratic habits for the occupations of ci- 
vilized life. The general feelings of the nation, at this 
moment are most auspicious to their undertaking. 
The community at large is most solicitous for civili- 
zation. In this they have made some progress ; ma- 
ny of them growing cotton, and spinning, and wea- 
ving it into coarse clothing. 

“ Of the three districts or towns into which its 15 
or 20,000 souls are divided, one has appropriated to 
the use of schools its annuity for seventeen years, of 
2000 Dollars per annum, received from the United 
States for ceded lands; another, its annuity of 1000 
Dollars per annum, with the prospect of 1000 more ; 
and one has requested the United States, not only to 
forbid the introduction of ammunition into the nation, 
that the hunter may be compelled to work, but to 
send their annuity in implements of husbandry. At a 
recent General Council of the Chiefs, 1300 Dollars in 
money, and upwards of eighty cows and calves, were 
subscribed for the use of schools, and the total contri- 
bution of the Choctaws to this object exceeds 70,000 
Dollars. 

“ I was highly gratified by my visit to Elliot — this 


a 


12 


garden in a moral wilderness ; and was pleased with 
the opportunity of seeing a Missionary settlement in 
its infant state, before the wounds of recent separation 
from kindred and friends had ceased to bleed, and 
habit had rendered the Missionaries familiar with the 
peculiarities of their novel situation. 

“ The sight of the children, also, many of them still 
in Indian costume, was most interesting. I could not 
help imagining, that, before me, might be some Alfred 
of this Western world, the future founder of Institu- 
tions which were to enlighten and civilize his coun- 
try — some Choctaw Swartz, or Elliot, destined to dis- 
seminate the blessings of Christianity, and refinement, 
from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from the Gulph 
of Mexico to the Frozen Sea. I contrasted them in 
their social, their moral, and their religious condition, 
with the straggling hunters, and their painted faces, 
who, occasionally stared through the windows ; or, 
with the half-naked savages of another tribe, whom we 
had seen in the forests a few nights before, dancing 
round their midnight fires, with their tomahawks, and 
scalping knives, rending the air with their fierce war- 
whoop, or making the woods thrill with their savage 
yells. But they form a yet stronger contrast with the 
poor Indians whom we had seen on the frontier — cor- 
rupted, degraded, and debased by their intercourse 
with English, Irish, or American Traders.” 

I might, Sir, conduct you with our interesting tra- 
veller, from Elliot to Brainerd, and multiply quota- 
tions to the same general purport ; but, more than 
enough, I am sensible, has already been given, to con- 
vince a gentleman of your humanity and candour, not 
only, that the disinterested efforts which arc now ma- 
king to civilize and christianize the Indians of our 


13 


country, deserve not the opprobrium vrhich is said to 
have been cast upon them, but, that they merit the ap- 
probation, and the support of the community. The pre- 
sent system of combining the two objects of civilizing 
and christianizing the Indian Tribes, is already “ in 
the full tide of successful experiment and, I cannot 
but deeply regret, that a measure should find its advo- 
cates in Congress, which appears to be calculated to 
give a powerful check, if not to erect an insurmounta- 
ble barrier, to both. 

Upon this country. Sir, rests a responsibility, in 
relation to the Indian Tribes, of deep and tremen- 
dous import. “ Sovereigns from time immemorial 
of the interminable forests, which overshadow this 
vast Continent, this injured race have gradually 
been driven, by the white usurpers of their soil, with- 
in the limits of their present precarious posses- 
sions. One after another of their favourite rivers has 
been reluctantly abandoned, until the range of the 
hunter is bounded by lines prescribed by his invader, 
and the independence of the warrior is no more. Of 
the innumerable Tribes, which, a few centuries since, 
roamed, fearless and independent, in their native fo- 
rests, how many have been swept into oblivion, and 
are wdth the generations before the flood ! Of others, not 
a trace remains but in tradition, or in the person of 
some solitary wanderer, the last of his Tribe, who 
hovers like a ghost among the sepulchres of his fa- 
thers — a spark still faintly glimmering in the ashes of 
an extinguished race.” Alas ! Sir, shall the sword of 
avarice, or the strong arm of civilized power, still pur- 
sue this unhappy people ? Shall the unceasing and re- 
lentless force of emigration drive them from forest to 
forest, until the last remnant, struggling for existence, 


14 


shall fall on the verge of the Western Ocean, or perish 
in its flood ! Will not the voice of humanity prompt us 
to arrest this unremitting progress of extermination ? 
Does not the glory of our country require, that we ex- 
tend to those who still survive, the hand of friendship, 
convey to them the blessings of social life, and raise 
them to a high and happy destiny ? And how. Sir, 
shall this be accomplished ? Break down the restric- 
tions which have happily been placed upon Indian 
trade, and you will let loose upon the untutored te- 
nants of the wilderness, a horde of selfish and unprin- 
cipled adventurers, to pollute, debase, deceive, and 
destroy. But, continue and enforce those restric- 
tions — encourage and aid the Missionary Institutions 
of our country, and you will find a host of pious minis- 
ters, teachers, farmers, and mechanics, who will go 
forth to the work of civilizing the Indians, with no 
other motive than that of promoting their temporal 
and eternal benefit, and expecting and wishing no 
earthly remuneration for their privations and their 
toils. Adopt this course, and you will have Agents 
who will carry on the noble designs of the government 
in relation to the Indian Tribes, with a spirit of disin- 
terestedness, perseverance, and fidelity, which, in any 
other way, or on any other principle, cannot be found. 
Adopt this course, and with cheering hope you may 
look forward to the period, when the savage shall be 
converted into the citizen ; when the hunter shall be 
changed to the agriculturalist or the mechanic; when 
the farm, the workshop, the school-house, and the 
church, shall adorn every Indian village; when the 
fruits of industry, good order, and sound morals, shall 
bless every Indian dwelling ; and when, throughout 
the vast range of country from the Mississippi to the 


Pacific, the red man and the white man shall every 
where be found, mingling in the same pursuits, cherish- 
ing the same benevolent and friendly views, fellow- 
citizens of the same civil and religious community, and 
fellow-heirs to an eternal inheritance in the kingdom 
of glory. 

I am. Sir, very respectfully, Your’s, &c. 

Z. Lewis, 

Domestic Secretary of the United Foreign Missionary Society, 


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